COMPETITIVE HIDE & SEEK IN
THE 2020 OLYMPICS! - having just read in the
Telegraph about a Japanese professor who has embarked on a
campaign to get "competitive hide and seek" introduced for
the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, I am keen myself to see them
also introduce COMPETITIVE MUSICAL STATUES.

Now this would of course be also followed
by competitive events for PASS THE PARCEL, PIN THE TAIL ON
THE DONKEY and that one where you pile up baking flour, put
a coin on top and take turns to cut the flour away with a
knife until the coin falls down!

Oh the spectators will enjoy
paying extortionate entrance fees to see these...(sigh)

Too high & too bright...

DRIVING AT NIGHT SOME
ONCOMING CAR LIGHTS ARE JUST TOO BRIGHT! - mind
you I'm sure they're set too high to boot. Then every
time the oncoming car hits a bump you get what appears to be
a flash of lights and with newer upmarket cars having those
very bright HID headlights I'm getting laser eye surgery
free of charge whilst just trying to see where I'm going.

Now this would be bad enough
but what about the idiot that's behind you and although
they're half a mile away, those high intensity lights on
full beam are just blinding in the rear view! They dip
them when they're up close I know but then just as before,
every time the approaching car hits a bump you get what
appears to be a flash of lights.

What a pain in the spectrum!

Get
some focus...

PERHAPS I DO NEED SOME NEW
SPECTACLES - I will admit to watching quite a few TV
programmes from the likes of Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver,
Nigel Slater and the others all about cooking and recipes,
but the production companies on these need to have a good
stiff talking to their camera production peeps!

Please stop this general arty
out of focus then pulled in to focus nonsense, it's doing my
brain in!

Technology these days surely
must be good enough to keep focus all the time, so the
camera person is obviously switching off the auto focus
then!

...and while we're on the
subject, those close up probably hand held wobbly seconds of
what's in the mixing bowl and such like...then trying to
keep the chef in the frame and in focus while they move from counter to
fridge/oven and back, you know who you are, sort it out!

Experts...

READ A CAMERA REVIEW
RECENTLY? - I used the internet to read up on some kit
the otherday and looked through some comments from
owners/users of the particular cameras I was interested in. Very
useful but wait, what's all this drivel at the bottom of some
of the individual comments...

WHAT HAPPENED TO MEGA OR
AWESOME? - I find it difficult to understand this
current obsession by people being interviewed by the media
at the moment, and just in normal conversation come to that,
with the repeated use of the word "amazing".

This would be Ok if say an unknown athlete without previous
form performed out of character and managed an Olympic Medal
perhaps, but how can it apply to, for example Tom Daley,
he's expected to achieve based on previous performance and
does...

I suspect word use such as this
is no doubt derived from the across the pond....

Give it a rest!

DIY Repair Plates & Brackets...

WITH SCREWSI DON'T
WANT - Popped in to Wickes to get a pack of simple
repair plates today. You know the sort of thing you
can use where you want to repair a corner of a window frame
for example, or the corner of a wooden box. They're a
sort of quick fix screw on right angle bracket arrangement.

Yes they had packet after
packet of all different sorts, 150mm straight plates with 4
countersunk screw holes pre-drilled, 75mm x 75mm right angle
corner plates again with countersunk screw holes
pre-drilled, and many other designs in galvanised steel,
brassed metal etc., etc.

However every packet included a little packet of screws.
I don't want the included screws.

So on to B&Q opposite...exactly
the same there too!

Now far be it from me to suggest that Wickes and B&Q are
clairvoyant and they know what I will be using these repair
plates for and what I will be fixing them to, but the screws
included look like they are 20 x 3 CSK wood screws and I
really don't want them.

But all the repair plate packets on display have these
screws included!

This wouldn't be suggesting that this will save Mr / Mrs
Average buying screws separately, or would it be a way of
justifying an extra £1 on the packet price because "aren't
we good we've included the screws you need to fit these
Sir"....

M25 Junc 25 to
A127...

YES 4 LANES NOW - You would think
that the M25 would have got better with 4 lanes now from the
A10 towards the A127 wouldn't you? More room and less
eventful journeys?
So would I until I drove down to Dartford last week.

There's idiots now driving slow and sticking in both lane 2 AND
lane 3!

They've now got an extra lane to dawdle
along in and force the rest of us to go from lane 1 to lane 4,
and back again to get
round them!

If you're one of the drivers who think that sticking in lane
2 when the traffic in lane 1 is a full mile ahead and you
will be overtaking sometime in the near future...please wake
up!

That goes for you lane 3 drivers doing the same!

Bottomless
chips...

UNLIMITED SALAD WOULD BE BETTER - I
continue to hear Beefeater promotions referring to
"bottomless chips" with their menu meals.

Irresponsible or what? With obesity being warned by
the NHS being at a high in both children and adults is this
really the way to go or even to be associated with given the
health profile.

It would make more sense to offer unlimited
salad as Pizza Hut are currently doing, but then kids don't
eat that much salad do they, but put a plate of chips on the
table and keep them coming!

We all know chips aren't that good for
you...so are these particular bottomless chips mega low in
saturated fat etc., etc.? I don't think so, do you? Come on!

The concept isn't new though as restaurants
in the USA have been at this for a while. Hmm...and
look what's going on over there obesity-wise!

Just nuts...

STATING THE OBVIOUS - I picked
up some "monkey nuts" from the supermarket recently, you
know the roasted in their shells sort of thing.

I was amazed at the label that said, "Ingredients: monkey
nuts, Warning: may contain nuts"

I blooming hope that the bag contains nuts.
It's also amazing that the peanut butter purchased at the
same time also has a warning label stating that the peanut
butter also contains peanuts!

Now none of the above is new news, but isn't
about time we stopped this ridiculous labelling which seems
to be done just to fall in line. Surely if it's for
allergy reasons, then sufferers won't be buying roasted
peanuts and peanut butter anyway! So who is it for?

Incidentally the 4 pint bottle of milk,
didn't have a "warning" on it that it contained milk, or the
mayonnaise have a "warning" that it contained egg.
They both were content with stating the obvious ingredients.

Fishless Fingers...

HOW CAN THIS BE - I've seen it all now, what with veggie
burgers and sausages that look exactly like burgers and sausages, we
now have FISHLESS FINGERS!

A fish finger looks like a fish finger because it is, so why does a
fishless finger look the same?

Some cobblers on the TV
advertising saying because of low fish stocks, fishless fingers
(made from quorn) are now available. Low fish stocks?...didn't
the marketing execs watch the documentaries recently from Hugh
Fearnley-Whittingstall? Do me a favour p-lease!

Most vegetarians I know eat
some fish, so who is this product aimed at? Surely not mums
and dads who want to encourage their kids to go vegetarian without
the kids realising it...

What will be next...crab sticks with no crab in them? Yes yes
yes OK I know these exist....

Dulux Trade Gloss
just isn't the same anymore...

VOC 2010 RULES - these have seen a good paint become less than
acceptable!

I bought 5 litres of brilliant white trade gloss recently, opened the tin
and was greeted rather than with the usual tan oil film I expected,
a blue/grey wishy washy film and paint that was so thin I thought
about taking it back to the Dulux decorating centre and changing it
for something else.

I've
used Dulux trade white gloss for years and found it very good so I
thought I'd give it a go anyway...blooming awful!
Coverage was poor as it was so thin with drips/runs plentiful.

At £37 a tin this isn't right!....

However after half an hour of thinking about
it, I gave it a good
mix, then left the lid off overnight. It skinned but the
paint thickened up a bit. I removed the skin, and gave it a good
stir, then left it for another 24 hrs with the lid off.
I removed the skin again, gave it a stir and it seemed to
go on a bit better. You really shouldn't have to do
all this!

Mind you, it took an age to
fully dry so I could rub down the first coat...and I've heard it yellows quicker than the old white
gloss even with the trade undercoat.

New EU / environmental rules involved with
this no doubt...might have guessed!

eBay private listing
- bidders' identities protected...

NOW THIS REALLY IRRITATES ME - how can you tell if you're being
strung along and the seller for example is bumping the price up.

Evidently the advice from the ebay forum is along the lines of "if
you don't like it, don't bid".

So why I ask myself, do
sellers really need this, because I can't see the point? The
ebay user name is doctored for example D****5, so you can't really
tell who it is?

It's about time ebay did something because it's put me off bidding
on some items that I would have normally jumped at.

Oi granddad...

CLOSE SHAVE - pulled in to a car park at the local McDonalds and
nearly had a head-on with a Mini coming out at 60mph. The
driver a young spotty youth must have wet himself as I was driving a
Discovery.

His face was a picture, white and drained, then rosy red in matter
of seconds, and his mates in the car were all holding on
and leaning backwards.

All he could say through an open window was "Oi grandad, watch where
you're going!" obviously still trying to impress his mates.

We waved good bye to him, and he waved good bye to us with
two fingers, then he left the car park at warp speed
obviously learning nothing...

Why is it young male drivers
always seem to have to prove something to their mates with their
driving skills because I'm fed up with high insurance rates caused
by these idiots driving badly and causing accidents.

Galloway's cough
syrup...

WHEN DID THIS
DISAPPEAR? - all the local pharmacies and big stores including
Tesco, Sainsburys etc., don't do it any more. I like this
stuff, it's tastes good (OK a bit too good if I'm honest) and more's the point it works!

Discontinued by the manufacturer evidently and removed from the
shelves. Shame. Something about it may have been
dangerous if given to younger children?

I was given Galloway's as a child, and I have had no problems.
Perhaps it's effect has led to premature grumpiness!

I added it to my "wish list" on
Amazon...optimistic yes but you never know!

Also did a search on Google to see if anywhere had some...OK
awaste of time,
however I did find Bladnoch 18 Year Old - Belted Galloway Label malt
whisky...I'll try that then!

OK, yes, in a
minute...I heard the first time...

WHY IS IT? - when I
make breakfast, get the toast on the table and I call my wife, once,
then twice, even a third time to tell her "it's on the table and
getting cold" only to be told from a distance in a loud voice, "OK,
yes, what's all the fuss about, I heard you the first time!"